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+ margin-left: 1px } + +table.docinfo { + margin: 3em 4em } + +table.docutils { } + +tr.footnote.footnote td, tr.footnote.footnote th { + padding: 0 0.5em 1.5em; +} + +table.docutils td, table.docutils th, +table.docinfo td, table.docinfo th { + padding: 0 0.5em; + vertical-align: top } + +table.docutils th.field-name, table.docinfo th.docinfo-name { + font-weight: bold ; + text-align: left ; + white-space: nowrap ; + padding-left: 0 } + +/* used to remove borders from tables and images */ +.borderless, table.borderless td, table.borderless th { + border: 0 } + +table.borderless td, table.borderless th { + /* Override padding for "table.docutils td" with "!important". + The right padding separates the table cells. */ + padding: 0 0.5em 0 0 } /* FIXME: was !important */ + +h1 tt.docutils, h2 tt.docutils, h3 tt.docutils, +h4 tt.docutils, h5 tt.docutils, h6 tt.docutils { + font-size: 100% } + +ul.auto-toc { + list-style-type: none } +</style> +<style type="text/css"> +/* +Project Gutenberg HTML docutils stylesheet. + +This stylesheet contains styles specific to HTML. +*/ + +/* FONTS */ + +/* em { font-style: normal } +strong { font-weight: normal } */ + +.small-caps { font-variant: small-caps } +.gesperrt { letter-spacing: 0.1em } + +/* ALIGN */ + +.align-left { clear: left; + float: left; + margin-right: 1em } + +.align-right { clear: right; + float: right; + margin-left: 1em } + +.align-center { margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto } + +div.shrinkwrap { display: table; } + +/* SECTIONS */ + +body { margin: 5% 10% 5% 10% } + +/* compact list items containing just one p */ +li p.pfirst { margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0 } + +.first { margin-top: 0 !important; + text-indent: 0 !important } +.last { margin-bottom: 0 !important } + +span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 1 } +img.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.5em 0 0; max-width: 25% } +span.dropspan { font-variant: small-caps } + +.no-page-break { page-break-before: avoid !important } + +/* PAGINATION */ + +@media screen { + .coverpage, .frontispiece, .titlepage, .verso, .dedication, .plainpage + { margin: 10% 0; } + + div.clearpage, div.cleardoublepage + { margin: 10% 0; border: none; border-top: 1px solid gray; } + + .vfill { margin: 5% 10% } +} + +@media print { + div.clearpage { page-break-before: always; padding-top: 10% } + div.cleardoublepage { page-break-before: right; padding-top: 10% } + + .vfill { margin-top: 20% } + h2.title { margin-top: 20% } +} + +</style> +<title>BY CANADIAN STREAMS</title> +<meta name="PG.Rights" content="Public Domain" /> +<meta name="PG.Title" content="By Canadian Streams" /> +<meta name="PG.Producer" content="Al Haines" /> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/img-cover.jpg" /> +<meta name="DC.Creator" content="Lawrence J. Burpee" /> +<meta name="DC.Created" content="1909" /> +<meta name="PG.Id" content="38933" /> +<meta name="PG.Released" content="2012-07-02" /> +<meta name="DC.Language" content="en" /> +<meta name="DC.Title" content="By Canadian Streams" /> + +<link href="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" rel="schema.DCTERMS" /> +<link href="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators" rel="schema.MARCREL" /> +<meta content="By Canadian Streams" name="DCTERMS.title" /> +<meta content="streams.rst" name="DCTERMS.source" /> +<meta content="en" scheme="DCTERMS.RFC4646" name="DCTERMS.language" /> +<meta content="2012-07-02T16:32:32.176920+00:00" scheme="DCTERMS.W3CDTF" name="DCTERMS.modified" /> +<meta content="Project Gutenberg" name="DCTERMS.publisher" /> +<meta content="Public Domain in the USA." name="DCTERMS.rights" /> +<link href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38933" rel="DCTERMS.isFormatOf" /> +<meta content="Lawrence J. Burpee" name="DCTERMS.creator" /> +<meta content="2012-07-02" scheme="DCTERMS.W3CDTF" name="DCTERMS.created" /> +<meta content="width=device-width" name="viewport" /> +<meta content="EpubMaker 0.3.19b4 by Marcello Perathoner <webmaster@gutenberg.org>" name="generator" /> +<style type="text/css"> +.pageno { position: absolute; right: 95%; font: medium sans-serif; text-indent: 0 } +.pageno:after { color: gray; content: '[' attr(title) ']' } +.lineno { position: absolute; left: 95%; font: medium sans-serif; text-indent: 0 } +.lineno:after { color: gray; content: '[' attr(title) ']' } +.toc-pageref { float: right } +pre { font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.9em; white-space: pre-wrap } +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 38933 ***</div> +<div class="document" id="by-canadian-streams"> +<h1 class="document-title level-1 pfirst title">BY CANADIAN STREAMS</h1> +<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<p class="noindent pfirst" id="pg-produced-by"><span>Produced by Al Haines.</span></p> +<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 1em"> +</div> +<p class="noindent pfirst"><span></span></p> +</div> +<div class="align-None container coverpage"> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> +</div> +<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 58%" id="figure-6"> +<span id="cover"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-cover.jpg" /> +<div class="caption figure"> +Cover</div> +</div> +</div> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<div class="align-None center container titlepage white-space-pre-line"> +<p class="pfirst white-space-pre-line x-large">BY CANADIAN STREAMS</p> +<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="medium pfirst white-space-pre-line">BY</p> +<p class="large pnext white-space-pre-line">LAWRENCE J. BURPEE</p> +<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<p class="center medium pfirst white-space-pre-line">TORONTO<br /> +THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY LIMITED</p> +<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +</div> +<div class="align-None center container verso white-space-pre-line"> +<p class="center pfirst small white-space-pre-line"><em class="italics white-space-pre-line">Entered at</em><br /> +<em class="italics white-space-pre-line">Stationers Hall</em><br /> +1909</p> +</div> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst">THE RIVERS OF CANADA</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<!-- class: left medium --> +<p class="pfirst">Who that has travelled upon their +far-spreading waters has not felt the +compelling charm of the rivers of Canada? +The matchless variety of their scenery, from +the gentle grace of the Sissibou to the +tempestuous grandeur of the Fraser; the +romance that clings to their shores--legends +and tales of Micmac and Iroquois, Cree, +Blackfoot, and Chilcotin; stories of peaceful +Acadian villages beside the Gaspereau, and +fortified towns along the St. Lawrence; of +warlike expeditions and missionary +enterprises up the Richelieu and the Saguenay; +of heroic exploits at the Long Sault and at +Verchères; of memorable explorations in +the north and the far west? How many of +us realise the illimitable possibilities of these +arteries of a nation, their vital importance +as avenues of commerce and communication, +the potential energy stored in their rushing +waters? Do we even appreciate their actual +extent, or thoroughly grasp the fact that +this network of waterways covers half a +continent, and reaches every corner of this +vast Dominion?</p> +<p class="pnext">Two hundred years ago little was known +of these rivers outside the valley of the +St. Lawrence. One hundred years later +scores of new waterways had been explored +from source to outlet, some of them +ranking among the great rivers of the +earth. The Western Sea, that had lured +the restless sons of New France toward the +setting sun, that had furnished a +dominating impulse to her explorers, from Jacques +Cartier to La Vérendrye, was at last reached +by Canadians of another race--and the road +that they travelled was the water-road that +connects three oceans. In their frail canoes +these tireless pathfinders journeyed up the +mighty St. Lawrence and its great tributary +the Ottawa, through Lake Nipissing, and +down the French river to Georgian Bay; +they skirted the shores of the inland seas to +the head of Lake Superior, and by way of +numberless portages crossed the almost +indistinguishable height of land to Rainy Lake +and the beautiful Lake of the Woods. They +descended the wild Winnipeg to Lake +Winnipeg, paddled up the Saskatchewan to +Cumberland House, turned north by way of +Frog Portage to the Churchill, and ascended +that waterway to its source, where they +climbed over Meythe Portage--famous in +the annals of exploration and the fur trade--to +the Clearwater, a branch of the Athabaska, +and so came to Fort Chipewyan, on Lake +Athabaska. Descending Slave River for a +few miles, they came to the mouth of Peace +River, and after many days' weary paddling +were in sight of the Rocky Mountains. Still +ascending the same river, they traversed the +mountains, and by other streams were borne +down the western slope to the shores of the +remote Pacific.</p> +<p class="pnext">The world offers no parallel to this +extraordinary water-road from the Atlantic to the +Pacific; nor is the tale all told. From that +great central reservoir, that master-key to +the whole system of water communications, +the traveller might turn his canoe in any +direction, and traverse the length and +breadth of the continent to its most remote +boundaries: east to the Atlantic, west to +the Pacific, north to the Arctic or to +Hudson Bay, and south to the Gulf of +Mexico.</p> +<p class="pnext">The story of Canadian rivers would fill +several volumes if one attempted to do +justice to such a broad and varied theme. +One may only hope, in the few pages that +follow, to give glimpses of the story; to +suggest, however inadequately, the dramatic +and romantic possibilities of the subject; to +recall a few of the memories that cling to the +rivers of Canada.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst">CONTENTS</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<ol class="left medium upperroman simple"> +<li><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-great-river-of-canada">The Great River of Canada</a></p> +</li> +<li><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-mystic-saguenay">The Mystic Saguenay</a></p> +</li> +<li><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-river-of-acadia">The River of Acadia</a></p> +</li> +<li><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-war-path-of-the-iroquois">The War Path of the Iroquois</a></p> +</li> +<li><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-river-of-the-cataract">The River of the Cataract</a></p> +</li> +<li><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-highway-of-the-fur-trade">The Highway of the Fur Trade</a></p> +</li> +<li><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-red-river-of-the-north">The Red River of the North</a></p> +</li> +<li><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#the-mighty-mackenzie">The Mighty Mackenzie</a></p> +</li> +</ol> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst" id="the-great-river-of-canada">By Canadian Streams</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst">I</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst">THE GREAT RIVER OF CANADA</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<!-- --> +<blockquote> +<div> +<div class="line-block outermost"> +<div class="line">He told them of the river whose mighty current gave</div> +<div class="line">Its freshness for a hundred leagues to ocean's briny wave;</div> +<div class="line">He told them of the glorious scene presented to his sight,</div> +<div class="line">What time he reared the cross and crown on Hochelaga's height,</div> +<div class="line">And of the fortress cliff that keeps of Canada the key,</div> +<div class="line">And they welcomed back Jacques Cartier from his perils over sea.</div> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="line">McGEE.</div> +<div class="line"> </div> +</div> +</div> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">If we abandon ourselves to pure +conjecture, we may carry the history of +the St. Lawrence back to the beginning of +the sixteenth century, when daring +Portuguese navigators sailed into these northern +latitudes; or to the latter half of the fifteenth +century, when the Basque fishermen are said +to have brought their adventurous little +craft into the Gulf of St. Lawrence; or, if +you please, we may push the curtain back +to the tenth century and add another +variant to the many theories as to the course +of the Northmen from Labrador to Nova +Scotia. But while this would make a +romantic story, it is not history. The Vikings +of Northern Europe, and the Portuguese +and Basques of Southern Europe, <em class="italics">may</em> have +sailed the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and <em class="italics">may</em> +even have entered the estuary of the great +river, but there is no evidence that they did, +and we must surrender these picturesque +myths if we are to build our story upon a +tangible foundation.</p> +<p class="pnext">With the advent of Jacques Cartier, the +bluff and fearless mariner of St. Malo, we +are upon the solid ground of history. There +is nothing vague or uncertain about either +the personality or achievements of this +Breton captain. He tells his own story, in +simple and convincing language. It does +not require any peculiar gift of imagination +to picture the scene that marks the +beginnings of the history of the St. Lawrence. +It was upon an autumn day, some three +hundred and seventy-four years since. +Jacques Cartier, with his little fleet, had +searched up and down the coasts of the gulf +for the elusive and much-desired passage to +the South Seas, but the passage was not +there. His Indian guides, Taignoagny and +Domagaya, had told him something of the +mighty stream--the Great River of Canada--upon +whose waters his ships were even +now sailing. How almost incredible it must +have seemed to him that this vast channel, +twenty-five miles across from shore to shore, +could be a river, and nothing more! What +thoughts must have surged through his brain +that here at last was the long-sought passage, +the road to golden Cathay! Even when, as +he sailed onward, it became certain that this +was indeed a river, although a gigantic one, +Jacques Cartier still had reason enough to +follow its beckoning finger. The Indians +said that to explore its upper waters he +must take to his boats; but they told him +of three several native kingdoms that lay +along its banks, and they assured him +that its source was so remote that no man +had ever journeyed so far. Moreover, it +came from the south-west, and there lay, +and at no impossible distance, as report had +it, the Vermilion Sea. He might well hope +to reach that sea by way of the River of +Canada. In any event, he determined to try.</p> +<p class="pnext">A week later the ships were anchored off +an island, which Cartier named the Isle of +Bacchus, because of the abundance of grapes +found upon its shores. Before him rose the +forest-clad heights of Cape Diamond, +destined to become the key to a Colonial empire, +the battling-ground of three great nations, +the site of the most picturesque and most +romantic city of America. Even at this +time the place was of some importance, for +here stood the native town of Stadacona, the +seat of Donnacona, "Lord of Canada."</p> +<p class="pnext">While the ships rode at anchor, Donnacona +came down the river with twelve canoes and +a number of his people. His welcoming +harangue astonished Cartier, as much by its +inordinate length as by the extraordinary +animation with which it was delivered. +The explorer wasted no time, however, in +ceremonies. The season was drawing on, +and much remained to be accomplished. +Finding safe quarters for two of his vessels +in the St. Charles River he continued his +voyage in the third, in spite of the +opposition of Donnacona and his people, who with +true native jealousy would have prevented +his further progress. The ship had to be +left behind at the mouth of the Richelieu, +but with two boats, manned by some of +his sailors, Cartier pushed on to the third +native kingdom, Hochelaga, which he +reached about the beginning of October. +His reception here was embarrassing in its +enthusiasm, for the people of Hochelaga +testified their faith in the godlike character +of their visitor by bringing the sick and the +maimed to him to be healed by his touch.</p> +<p class="pnext">Climbing the mountain behind the Indian +town--which still bears the name he then +gave it of Mont Royal--Cartier eagerly +scanned the country to the westward. He +could trace the St. Lawrence on one side, +and on the other saw for the first time its +great tributary the Ottawa. The way was +still open, but rapids barred the further +progress of his boats. It was too late to do +anything more this season, and, taking leave +of the friendly people of Hochelaga, he +returned down the river to Stadacona, where +in his absence his men had built a substantial +fort for the winter. With all their +preparations, however, a wretched winter was +passed. The Indians, at first friendly, +became distrustful under the treacherous +influence of Domagaya and Taignoagny, and +kept Cartier and his men constantly on guard +against a possible attack. Added to this, the +little garrison had to endure the horrors of +scurvy. When in the following May Cartier +made ready to sail back to France, he found +it necessary to abandon one of his ships and +distribute the men between the other two +vessels. As some satisfaction for the +annoyance he had suffered at the hands of the +Indians, Cartier succeeded in carrying away +to France not only the troublesome Taignoagny +and several of his companions, but +also the chief, Donnacona.</p> +<p class="pnext">Cartier sailed for Canada once more in +1541, but only fragmentary accounts are +available of this voyage. The honest captain +of St. Malo never succeeded in finding the +Vermilion Sea, but he had accomplished +what was of more importance to future +generations--the discovery and exploration +of the noblest of Canadian rivers. No one +who came after him could add anything +material to this momentous achievement.</p> +<p class="pnext">For more than half a century after +Cartier's final return to France, the +St. Lawrence was practically abandoned to its +native tribes. In 1608, however, another +famous son of Old France sailed up the +St. Lawrence and landed with his men at +the foot of the same towering rock upon +which the Indian town of Stadacona had +formerly stood. Nothing now remained of +Donnacona's capital, or of the tribe that +once occupied the district. The Iroquois, +who in Cartier's day dwelt along the +borders of the St. Lawrence from Stadacona +to Hochelaga, had for some unaccountable +reason abandoned this part of the country, +and were now settled between Lake +Champlain and Lake Ontario. Champlain and +those who came after him were to find a +very different welcome from the descendants +of the Indians who had welcomed Jacques +Cartier to Stadacona and Hochelaga.</p> +<p class="pnext">Somewhere near the market-place of the +Lower Town, Champlain's men fell to work +to lay the foundations of Quebec. One may +get some idea of the appearance of the group +of buildings, Champlain's <em class="italics">Abitation</em>, from +his own rough sketch in the <em class="italics">Voyages</em>. "My +first care," he says, "was to build a house +within which to store our provisions. This +was promptly and competently done through +the activity of my men, and under my own +supervision. Near by is the St. Croix River, +where of yore Cartier spent a winter. While +carpenters toiled and other mechanics were +at work on the house, the others were busy +making a clearance about our future abode; +for as the land seemed fertile, I was anxious +to plant a garden and determine whether +wheat and other cereals could not be grown +to advantage."</p> +<p class="pnext">All Champlain's men were not, however, +so innocently engaged. There was a traitor +in the camp. The story is told by Champlain +himself, and by the historian Lescarbot. It has +been re-told, in his characteristically simple +and graphic manner, by Francis Parkman.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Champlain was one morning directing +his labourers when Têtu, his pilot, +approached him with an anxious countenance, +and muttered a request to speak with him +in private. Champlain assenting, they +withdrew to the neighbouring woods, when the +pilot disburdened himself of his secret. One +Antoine Natel, a locksmith, smitten by +conscience or fear, had revealed to him a +conspiracy to murder his commander and +deliver Quebec into the hands of the Basques +and Spaniards then at Tadoussac. Another +locksmith, named Duval, was author of +the plot, and, with the aid of three +accomplices, had befooled or frightened nearly all +the company into taking part in it. Each +was assured that he should make his fortune, +and all were mutually pledged to poniard +the first betrayer of the secret. The critical +point of their enterprise was the killing of +Champlain. Some were for strangling him, +some for raising a false alarm in the night +and shooting him as he came out from his +quarters.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Having heard the pilot's story, Champlain, +remaining in the woods, desired his +informant to find Antoine Natel, and bring +him to the spot. Natel soon appeared, +trembling with excitement and fear, and a +close examination left no doubt of the truth +of his statement. A small vessel, built by +Pont-Gravé at Tadoussac, had lately arrived, +and orders were now given that it should +anchor close at hand. On board was a +young man in whom confidence could be +placed. Champlain sent him two bottles of +wine, with a direction to tell the four +ringleaders that they had been given him by his +Basque friends at Tadoussac, and to invite +them to share the good cheer. They came +aboard in the evening, and were seized and +secured. 'Voyla donc mes galants bien +estonnez,' writes Champlain.</p> +<p class="pnext">"It was ten o'clock, and most of the men +on shore were asleep. They were wakened +suddenly, and told of the discovery of the +plot and the arrest of the ringleaders. +Pardon was then promised them, and they +were dismissed again to their beds, greatly +relieved, for they had lived in trepidation, +each fearing the other. Duval's body, +swinging from a gibbet, gave wholesome +warning to those he had seduced; and his +head was displayed on a pike, from the +highest roof of the buildings, food for birds, +and a lesson to sedition. His three +accomplices were carried by Pont-Gravé to France, +where they made their atonement in the +galleys."</p> +<p class="pnext">Of Champlain's later history, his +expedition against the Iroquois, by way of the +Richelieu River and the lake to which he +gave his name, and his exploration of the +Ottawa, something will be said in later +chapters.</p> +<p class="pnext">The next great event in the history of +New France, after the founding of Quebec +by Champlain, was the coming of the Jesuit +missionaries; but though their headquarters +were at Quebec, the field of their heroic +labours was for the most part in what now +constitute the Province of Ontario and the +State of New York. Their story does not +therefore touch directly upon the St. Lawrence, +except in so far as that river was +their road to and from the Iroquois towns +and the country of the Hurons. Indeed, +by the middle of the seventeenth century, +the St. Lawrence had become the main +thoroughfare of New France. A fort had +been built at the mouth of the Richelieu, a +small trading settlement existed at Three +Rivers, and Maisonneuve had laid the +foundations of Montreal. Between Quebec +and these new centres of population there +was more or less intercourse, and the river +bore up and down the vessels of fur-trader +and merchant, priest and soldier. The +St. Lawrence was the highway of commerce, +the path of the missionary, the road of war, +and the one and only means of communication +for the scattered colonists. Up stream +came warlike expeditions against the troublesome +Iroquois; and down stream came the +Iroquois themselves, with increasing +insolence, until they finally carried their raids +down to the very walls of Quebec. The +St. Lawrence was not safe travelling in those +days, for white men or red.</p> +<p class="pnext">During one of these forays, the Iroquois +had captured two settlers, one Godefroy and +François Marguerie, an interpreter, both of +Three Rivers. When some months later +the war party returned to attack Three +Rivers, they brought the Frenchmen with +them, and sent Marguerie to the commander +of the fort with disgraceful terms. +Marguerie urged his people to reject the offer, +and then, keeping his pledged word even to +savages, returned to face almost certain +torture. Fortunately, reinforcements arrived +from Quebec in the nick of time, and the +Iroquois, finding themselves at a disadvantage, +consented to the ransom of their prisoners.</p> +<p class="pnext">In this same year, 1641, a little fleet which +had set forth from Rochelle some weeks +before dropped anchor at Quebec, and from +the ships landed Paul de Chomedey, Sieur +de Maisonneuve, with a party of enthusiasts +destined to found a religious settlement on +the island of Montreal. They were coldly +received by the Governor and people of +Quebec, who were too weak themselves to +care to see the tide of population diverted +to a new settlement far up the river. +Maisonneuve, however, turned a deaf ear to +all their arguments. "I have not come +here," he said, "to deliberate, but to act. +It is my duty and my honour to found a +colony at Montreal; and I would go, if +every tree were an Iroquois!"</p> +<p class="pnext">In May of the following year the expedition +set forth for Montreal. With Maisonneuve +went two women, whose names were +to be closely associated with the early history +of Montreal--Jeanne Mance and Madame +de la Peltrie. The Governor, Montmagny, +making a virtue of necessity, also +accompanied the expedition. A more willing +companion was Father Vimont, Superior of +the missions.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was the seventeenth of the month when +the odd little flotilla--a pinnace, a +flat-bottomed craft driven by sails, and a couple +of row-boats--approached their destination. +The following day they landed at what was +afterwards known as Point Callière. The +scene is best described in the words of +Parkman:</p> +<p class="pnext">"Maisonneuve sprang ashore, and fell on +his knees. His followers imitated his +example; and all joined their voices in +enthusiastic songs of thanksgiving. Tents, +baggage, arms, and stores were landed. An altar +was raised on a pleasant spot near at hand; +and Mademoiselle Mance, with Madame de +la Peltrie, aided by her servant, Charlotte +Barré, decorated it with a taste which was +the admiration of the beholders. Now all +the company gathered before the shrine. +Here stood Vimont, in the rich vestments +of his office. Here were the two ladies with +their servant; Montmagny, no very willing +spectator; and Maisonneuve, a warlike +figure, erect and tall, his men clustering +around him--soldiers, sailors, artisans, and +labourers--all alike soldiers at need. They +kneeled in reverent silence as the Host was +raised aloft; and when the rite was over, +the priest turned and addressed them: +'You are a grain of mustard-seed, that shall +rise and grow till its branches overshadow +the earth. You are few, but your work is +the work of God. His smile is on you, and +your children shall fill the land.'</p> +<p class="pnext">"The afternoon waned; the sun sank +behind the western forest, and twilight came +on. Fireflies were twinkling over the +darkened meadow. They caught them, tied +them with threads into shining festoons, +and hung them before the altar, where the +Host remained exposed. Then they pitched +their tents, lighted their bivouac fires, +stationed their guards, and lay down to rest. +Such was the birth-night of Montreal."</p> +<p class="pnext">Farther down the St. Lawrence, near the +mouth of the Richelieu, stood the fortified +home of the Seigneur de la Verchères. This +little fort was from its position peculiarly +exposed to the attacks of the Iroquois. Yet +men must live, whatever the risks might be. +Urgent business called the Seigneur to +Quebec. Perhaps nothing had been seen or +heard of the dreaded scourge in the +neighbourhood for some time. At any rate, +whether from a sense of fancied security, or +from necessity which must sometimes ignore +danger, most of the men were working in +the fields, at some distance from the fort. +Suddenly there was a cry, "The Iroquois!" Madeleine, +the fourteen-year-old daughter +of the Seigneur, was at the gate. She called +in some women who were near at hand, and +barred the entrance. Two soldiers were in +the fort, but they were paralysed with fear. +Madeleine took charge, shamed the soldiers +into at least a semblance of manhood, set +every one to work to repair the defences, and +set up dummies upon the walls to deceive +the Indians into the belief that the fort was +well garrisoned. She armed her two young +brothers, twelve and ten years of age, and +an old man of eighty, and carried out the +deception by a ceaseless patrol throughout +the night.</p> +<p class="pnext">Meanwhile the men in the fields had +escaped, and were on their way to Montreal +for assistance. But Montreal was far off in +those days, and the relief was slow in coming. +The next day, and the next, Madeleine, by +her own heroic will, kept up the spirits of +her little garrison, and they made such good +use of their guns that the Iroquois dared +not come to close quarters. When day +followed day without the appearance of +the hoped-for succour, the plucky girl had +to struggle with desperate energy to +maintain the defence. She herself took no rest, +but went from place to place, cheering the +flagging spirits of her brothers, and foiling +the enemy at every turn. At last, when a +full week had gone by, the relief party +arrived from Montreal, and at their +appearance the Iroquois hastily withdrew. The +men had expected to find the fort in ruins; +they were agreeably surprised to find all +safe; but their amazement knew no bounds +when the gate was opened and they +discovered what manner of garrison it was +that had held at bay for a week a strong +party of the ferocious Iroquois.</p> +<p class="pnext">One might fill many pages with such +stories as these, for the early history of the +Great River of Canada, and of the settlements +that grew up along its banks, is packed +with romantic incidents and dramatic +situations. These must, however, be left to +other hands if we are to find space for the +stories of other Canadian streams.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst" id="the-mystic-saguenay">II</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst">THE MYSTIC SAGUENAY</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<!-- --> +<blockquote> +<div> +<div class="line-block outermost"> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="line">Pile on pile</div> +</div> +<div class="line">The granite masses rise to left and right;</div> +<div class="line">Bald, stately bluffs that never wear a smile....</div> +<div class="line">And we must pass a thousand bluffs like these,</div> +</div> +<div class="line">Within whose breasts are locked a myriad mysteries.</div> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="line">SANGSTER.</div> +<div class="line"> </div> +</div> +</div> +</div> +</div> +</div> +</blockquote> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">The Saguenay is first heard of in the +narrative of Cartier's second voyage. +On his way to Canada, the realm of the +Iroquois sachem, Donnacona, he came, early +in September 1535, to the mouth of a great +river flowing into the St. Lawrence from the +west. His native guides told him that this +river, whose gloomy majesty was to be the +theme of many later travellers, was the main +road to the "kingdom of Saguenay." One +may well believe that the adventurous +captain of St. Malo would gladly have turned +his ships between the towering portals of +the Saguenay, for the pure joy of discovery, +had not a greater project lured him toward +the south-west.</p> +<p class="pnext">While his vessels were anchored off the +mouth of the river, his attention was drawn +to a curious fish "which no man had ever +before seen or heard of." The Indians called +them adhothuys, and told him that they +were found only in such places as this, where +the waters of sea and river mingled. Cartier +says they were as large as porpoises, had the +head and body of a greyhound, and were as +white as snow and without a spot. These +white porpoises, as they are now called, +are still found at the mouth of the +Saguenay. At one time their capture +formed an important part of the fisheries +of Tadoussac.</p> +<p class="pnext">There is a romantic tradition that de +Roberval sailed up the Saguenay with a +company of adventurers, about the year +1549, in search of a kingdom of fabulous +riches, and that he and his men perished on +the way. It is probable, however, that the +expedition had as little foundation as the +kingdom it was designed to exploit.</p> +<p class="pnext">Half a century later the first settlement +was made at Tadoussac, at the mouth of +the Saguenay. For many years this had +been a meeting-place for the Basque traders +and the Indians from the interior, but it +was not until the year 1600 that anything +in the nature of a permanent post had been +established. In that year Pierre de Chauvin, +Pont-Gravé, and de Monts, sailed for the +St. Lawrence, built a house at Tadoussac, +and left sixteen men there for the winter +to carry on the fur-trade. The venture was +not a success, and the place was abandoned +the following year, but Tadoussac remained +for many years an important point in the +fur-trade. It is said that in 1648 the traffic +amounted to 250,000 livres. A church built +here by the missionaries a hundred years later +is still standing. Tadoussac is chiefly known +to-day as one of the favourite watering-places +on the Lower St. Lawrence.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was not until three years after de +Chauvin built his trading-post at Tadoussac +that the Saguenay was actually explored. +Champlain and Pont-Gravé had sailed from +Honfleur, in March 1603, on the <em class="italics">Bonne-Renommée</em>, +to explore the country and find +some more suitable place than Tadoussac +for a permanent settlement. After meeting +a number of friendly Indians at Tadoussac, +Champlain determined to explore the +Saguenay, and actually sailed up to the head +of navigation, a little above the present town +of Chicoutimi. By shrewd questions he +learned from the Indians that above the +rapids the river was navigable for some +distance, that it was again broken by rapids +at its outlet from a big lake (Lake St. John), +that three rivers fell into this lake, and that +beyond these rivers were strange tribes who +lived on the borders of the sea. This sea +was the great bay, as yet undiscovered, +where Henry Hudson was seven years later +to win an imperishable name, and die a +victim to the treachery of his crew.</p> +<p class="pnext">In 1608 Champlain again visited Tadoussac, +on his way up the St. Lawrence to lay +the foundations of Quebec. His companion, +Pont-Gravé, had arrived in another vessel +a few days before, armed with the King's +commission granting him a monopoly of the +fur-trade for one year. When he reached +Tadoussac he found the enterprising Basques +already on the ground, and carrying on a +brisk trade with the Indians. They treated +the royal letters with contempt, ridiculed +Pont-Gravé's monopoly, and, finally boarding +his ship, carried off his guns and ammunition. +The opportune arrival of Champlain, +however, brought them to terms, and they finally +agreed to return to their legitimate occupation +of catching whales, leaving the fur-trade, +for a time at least, to Pont-Gravé and +Champlain.</p> +<p class="pnext">The Indians who chiefly frequented +Tadoussac at this time were of the tribe called +Montagnais. Their hunting-ground was the +country drained by the Saguenay, and they +acted as middlemen for the tribes of the far +north, bringing their furs down to the +French at Tadoussac, and carrying back +the prized trinkets of the white man, which +they no doubt bartered to their northerly +neighbours at an exorbitant profit.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Indefatigable canoe-men," says Parkman, +"in their birchen vessels, light as egg-shells, +they threaded the devious tracks of countless +rippling streams, shady by-ways of the +forest, where the wild duck scarcely finds +depth to swim; then descended to their +mart along those scenes of picturesque yet +dreary grandeur which steam has made +familiar to modern tourists. With slowly +moving paddles, they glided beneath the +cliff whose shaggy brows frown across the +zenith, and whose base the deep waves wash +with a hoarse and hollow cadence; and they +passed the sepulchral Bay of the Trinity, +dark as the tide of Acheron,--a sanctuary of +solitude and silence: depths which, as the +fable runs, no sounding-line can fathom, and +heights at whose dizzy verge the wheeling +eagle seems a speck."</p> +<p class="pnext">Fifty-eight years after Champlain's voyage +up the Saguenay, two Jesuit missionaries, +Claude Dablon and Gabriel Druillettes, set +forth from Tadoussac with a large party of +Indians in forty canoes. Their object was +to meet the northern Indians at Lake +Nekouba, near the height of land, and if +possible push on to Hudson Bay. It is clear +from their narrative that French traders or +missionaries had already ascended the +Saguenay as far as Lake St. John, but beyond that +Dablon and Druillettes entered upon a +country which was hitherto unknown to the +French. After suffering great hardships, the +party at last arrived at Lake Nekouba, where +they found a large gathering of Indians, +representing many of the surrounding tribes. +But while the missionaries were addressing +the Indians, word came that a war party of +Mohawks had penetrated even to these +remote fastnesses. So overpowering was the +dread which these redoubtable warriors had +inspired among all the tribes of North-eastern +America, that the gathering broke +up in confusion. Every man made off to +his own home, hoping that he might not +meet an Iroquois at the portage; and as the +Indians of Father Dablon's party were as +fear-stricken as the rest, all idea of +continuing the journey to Hudson Bay had +to be abandoned, and the missionaries +were obliged to retrace their steps to +Tadoussac.</p> +<p class="pnext">A decade later, another missionary, Father +Albanel, with a Colonial officer, Denys de +Saint Simon, were more fortunate. Following +Dablon's route to the height of land, +they pushed on to Lake Mistassini, and +descended Rupert's River to Hudson Bay, +where they found a small vessel flying the +English flag, and two houses, but the English +themselves were apparently away on some +trading expedition.</p> +<p class="pnext">The Jesuit missionaries seemed to have +discovered at an early date the advantages +of Lake St. John as the site of one of their +missions. In 1808 the ruins of their +settlement were still visible on the south side of +the lake. James McKenzie, of the North-West +Company, who visited the "King's +Posts" in that year, says that "the plum +and apple trees of their garden, grown wild +through want of care, yet bear fruit in +abundance. The foundation of their church +and other buildings, as well as the churchyard, +are still visible. The bell of their +church, two iron spades, a horseshoe, a +scythe and a bar of iron two feet in length, +have lately been dug out of the ruins of this +apparently once flourishing spot, and, +adjoining, is an extensive plain or meadow on +which much timothy hay grows." Elsewhere +Mr. McKenzie mentions that the +Fathers had mills on Lake St. John, some of +the materials used in their construction +having been found there by officers of the +North-West Company. He adds that an +island in the lake, not far from where the +mission formerly stood, swarms with snakes, +which a local tradition credited to the power +of the worthy Jesuits. The Fathers found +them inconveniently numerous about their +settlement, and conjured them on to the +island.</p> +<p class="pnext">A settlement of some kind was made at +Chicoutimi, on the Saguenay, early in the +eighteenth century. A chapel and store, +still standing in 1808, bore an inscription +that they had been built in 1707. Father +Coquart records that in 1750 there was a +saw-mill on the River Oupaouétiche, one +and a half leagues above Chicoutimi, which +worked two saws night and day.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst" id="the-river-of-acadia">III</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst">THE RIVER OF ACADIA</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<!-- --> +<blockquote> +<div> +<div class="line-block outermost"> +<div class="line">Along my fathers' dykes I roam again,</div> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="line">Among the willows by the river-side.</div> +<div class="line">These miles of green I know from hill to tide,</div> +</div> +<div class="line">And every creek and river's ruddy stain.</div> +<div class="line">Neglected long and shunned, our dead have lain.</div> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="line">Here, where a people's dearest hope has died,</div> +<div class="line">Alone of all their children scattered wide,</div> +</div> +<div class="line">I scan the sad memorials that remain.</div> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="line">HERBIN.</div> +<div class="line"> </div> +</div> +</div> +</div> +</div> +</blockquote> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">Some time about the middle of the +seventeenth century, an Acadian, +sailing perhaps from Port Royal in search of +peltries or of mere adventure, brought his +little vessel by great good luck safely through +that treacherous channel, guarded at one +end by Cape Split and at the other by the +frowning crest of Blomidon, and found +himself upon the placid waters of the Basin of +Minas. Champlain had sailed across the +mouth of the basin in 1604, and had called +it the Port des Mines, because of certain +copper-mines which he had been led to +expect there. This Acadian found +something better than copper-mines. Safely past +Blomidon, he came to a land which nature +seemed to have set apart as the home of an +industrious and peace-loving people. +Somewhere about the mouth of the Gaspereau he +built his home. Others followed, and in +time a long, straggling village grew up; +willows were planted, which stand to-day +as a memorial of this Acadian colony; and +after years of toil they completed that still +more impressive monument of Acadian +industry, the "long ramparts of their dykes," +by which they fenced out the sea from the +rich and fertile lowlands, and turned these +once tide-swept flats into green meadows.</p> +<p class="pnext">The Gaspereau country must have been +beautiful enough when the Acadians first +came to make their home there, but in the +years of their occupation they gave to the +landscape, quite unconsciously no doubt, +certain subtle touches that turned it into +something little less than an earthly paradise. +Standing upon the ridge and looking down +into the valley of the Gaspereau, one sees a +scene that it not very materially changed +from the days of the Acadians--after one +has eliminated such modern excrescences as +railways and bridges. The village of Grand +Pré would have to be rearranged, no doubt. +There was less of it in the first half of the +eighteenth century; it did not cover quite +the same ground; but no doubt a traveller +who came that way in 1750 would have +seen in the vale beneath many such picturesque +cottages embowered in the self-same +trees, and the rest of the scene would have +been much the same as he would see to-day. +Charles Roberts, the Canadian poet, novelist, +and historian, has made a word-picture of +it. "The picture is an exquisite pastoral. +Among such deep fields, such billowy groves, +and such embosomed farmsteads might +Theocritus have wrought his idylls to the +hum of the heavy bees. Along the bottom +of the sun-brimmed vale sparkles the river, +between its banks of wild rose and +convolvulus, with here and there a clump of +grey-green willows, here and there a +red-and-white bridge. As it nears its mouth the +Gaspereau changes its aspect. Its +complexion of clear amber grows yellow and +opaque as it mixes with the uprushing tides +of Minas, and its widened channel winds +through a riband of dyked marshes."</p> +<p class="pnext">This is the valley of the Gaspereau, one +of the most beautiful spots in the beautiful +province of Nova Scotia. This, too, in that +far-off autumn of 1755, was the scene of +one of the most pathetic and tragic incidents +in the history of America. It would serve +no useful purpose to discuss that much-debated +question of the whys and wherefores +of the expulsion of the Acadians. The +story of the actual tragedy is all we have +space for here. That story is alone sufficient +to make the Gaspereau famous among rivers +of Canada, and it is best told in the language +of Francis Parkman. Governor Lawrence +had summoned the deputies of the Acadian +settlements to appear before him at Halifax, +to take the oath of allegiance and fidelity. +They came, but flatly refused to take the +oath. The Governor and Council +thereupon decided that the only thing that +remained to be done was to deport them +from the colony. John Winslow, a Colonial +officer from Massachusetts, was charged with +the duty of securing the inhabitants about +the Basin of Minas. On August 14, 1755, +he set forth from his camp at Fort Beausejour, +with a force of but two hundred and +ninety-seven men. He sailed down +Chignecto Channel to the Bay of Fundy. "Here, +while they waited the turn of the tide to +enter the Basin of Minas," says Parkman, +"the shores of Cumberland lay before them +dim in the hot and hazy air, and the +promontory of Cape Split, like some misshapen +monster of primeval chaos, stretched its +portentous length along the glimmering sea, +with head of yawning rock, and ridgy back +bristled with forests. Borne on the rushing +flood, they soon drifted through the inlet, +glided under the rival promontory of Cape +Blomidon, passed the red sandstone cliffs +of Lyon's Cove, and descried the mouths +of the Rivers Canard and Des Habitants, +where fertile marshes, diked against the +tide, sustained a numerous and thriving +population. Before them spread the +boundless meadows of Grand Pré, waving with +harvests, or alive with grazing cattle; the +green slopes behind were dotted with the +simple dwellings of the Acadian farmers, +and the spire of the village church rose +against a background of woody hills. It +was a peaceful, rural scene, soon to +become one of the most wretched spots on +earth."</p> +<p class="pnext">After conferring with his brother officer, +Murray, who was encamped with his men +on the banks of the Pisiquid, where the town +of Windsor now stands, Winslow returned +to Grand Pré. The Acadian elders were +told to remove all sacred things from the +village church, and the building was then +used as a storehouse. The men pitched +their tents outside, while Winslow took +possession of the priest's house. A summons +was sent to the male inhabitants of the +district, over ten years of age, to attend at +the church in Grand Pré, on the fifth of +September, at three of the clock in the +afternoon, "that we may impart what we are +ordered to communicate to them; declaring +that no excuse will be admitted on any +pretence whatsoever, on pain of forfeiting +goods and chattels in default."</p> +<p class="pnext">"On the next day," continues Parkman, +"the inhabitants appeared at the hour +appointed, to the number of four hundred +and eighteen men. Winslow ordered a table +to be set in the middle of the church, and +placed on it his instructions and the address +he had prepared." It ran partly as follows: +"The duty I am now upon, though necessary, +is very disagreeable to my natural make +and temper, as I know it must be grievous +to you, who are of the same species. But +it is not my business to animadvert on the +orders I have received, but to obey them; +and therefore without hesitation I shall +deliver to you His Majesty's instructions +and commands, which are that your lands +and tenements and cattle and live-stock of +all kinds are forfeited to the Crown, with all +your other effects, except money and +household goods, and that you yourselves are to +be removed from this his province. The +peremptory orders of His Majesty are that +all the French inhabitants of these districts +be removed; and through His Majesty's +goodness I am directed to allow you the +liberty of carrying with you your money +and as many of your household goods as +you can take without overloading the vessels +you go in. I shall do everything in my +power that all these goods be secured to +you, and that you be not molested in carrying +them away, and also that whole families shall +go in the same vessel; so that this removal, +which I am sensible must give you a great +deal of trouble, may be made as easy as +His Majesty's service will admit; and I +hope that in whatever part of the world +your lot may fall, you may be faithful +subjects, and a peaceable and happy people."</p> +<p class="pnext">After weary weeks of delay, which tried +Winslow's patience to the utmost, the +transports at last arrived at the mouth of the +Gaspereau, and the work of embarkation +began. Up to the very last the Acadians +could not believe that the order of deportation +was serious, and when they finally +realised their fate and knew that they must +bid farewell for ever to their homes--the +homes of their fathers, the land that they +loved so well--their grief was indescribable. +"Began to embark the inhabitants," says +Winslow in his Diary, "who went off very +solentarily and unwillingly, the women in +great distress, carrying off their children in +their arms; others carrying their decrepit +parents in their carts, with all their goods; +moving in great confusion, and appeared a +scene of woe and distress." It was late in +December before the last transport left the +mouth of the Gaspereau. Altogether more +than twenty-one hundred Acadians were +exiled from Grand Pré and the country +round about. They were distributed along +the Atlantic coast, from Massachusetts to +Georgia. Some made their way to +Louisiana; some escaped and reached Canada. +"Some," says Parkman, "after incredible +hardship, made their way back to Acadia, +where, after the peace, they remained +unmolested, and, with those who had escaped +seizure, became the progenitors of the +present Acadians, now settled in various +parts of the British maritime provinces." Few +of them, however, returned at any time +to Grand Pré, and that once thriving settlement +remained desolate for several years, +until at last British families straggled in and +took up the waste lands of the unfortunate +Acadians.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst" id="the-war-path-of-the-iroquois">IV</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst">THE WAR-PATH OF THE IROQUOIS</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">The story of the Richelieu River is a +story of war and conflict. It opens +just three hundred years ago, when Champlain +set out from Quebec to join a war-party +of Algonquins and Hurons, who had +determined to seek the Iroquois in their own +country, and had begged him to aid in the +expedition. In consenting to do so, +Champlain no doubt felt that he had good and +sufficient reasons, but if he could have +foreseen the consequences of his act he would +surely have left the Algonquins and Iroquois +to settle their difficulties in their own way, +for from this first act of aggression dates the +implacable hatred of the Iroquois for the +French, and a century and more of ferocious +raids into every corner of the struggling +colony.</p> +<p class="pnext">Champlain, with his little party of French +and a horde of naked savages, reached the +mouth of the Richelieu, or the River of the +Iroquois as it was then called, about the +end of June 1609. The Indians quarrelled +among themselves, and three-fourths of their +number deserted and made off for home. +The rest continued their course up the +waters of the Richelieu. When they reached +the rapids, above the Basin of Chambly, it +was found impossible to take the shallop in +which the French had travelled any farther. +Sending most of his men back to Quebec, +he himself, with two companions, determined +to see the adventure through. After many +days' hard paddling, the flotilla of canoes +swept out on to the bosom of the noble lake +which perpetuates the name of Champlain, +and in the evening of the twenty-ninth of +July they discovered the Iroquois in their +canoes, near the point of land where Fort +Ticonderoga was long afterwards built. The +Iroquois made for the shore, and as night +was falling it was mutually agreed to defer +the battle until the following morning. The +Iroquois threw up a barricade, while Champlain +and his native allies spent the night +in their canoes on the lake.</p> +<p class="pnext">In the morning Champlain and his two +men put on light armour, and the whole +party landed at some distance from the +Iroquois. "I saw the enemy go out of +their barricade," says Champlain, "nearly +two hundred in number, stout and rugged +in appearance. They came at a slow pace +towards us, with a dignity and assurance +which greatly amused me, having three +chiefs at their head. Our men also advanced +in the same order, telling me that those +who had three large plumes were the chiefs, +and that I should do what I could to kill +them. I promised to do all in my power.</p> +<p class="pnext">"As soon as we had landed, they began +to run for some two hundred paces towards +their enemies, who stood firmly, not having +as yet noticed my companions, who went +into the woods with some savages. Our +men began to call me with loud cries; and +in order to give me a passage-way, they +opened in two parts, and put me at their +head, where I marched some twenty paces +in advance of the rest, until I was within +about thirty paces of the enemy, who at +once noticed me, and, halting, gazed at me, +as I did also at them. When I saw them +making a move to fire at us, I rested my +musket against my cheek, and aimed directly +at one of the three chiefs. With the same +shot two fell to the ground, and one of their +men was so wounded that he died some time +after. I had loaded my musket with four +balls. When our side saw this shot so +favourable for them, they began to raise +such loud cries that one could not have +heard it thunder. Meanwhile, the arrows +flew on both sides. The Iroquois were +greatly astonished that two men had been +so quickly killed, although they were equipped +with armour woven from cotton thread, +and with wood which was proof against +their arrows. This caused great alarm +among them. As I was loading again, one +of my companions fired a shot from the +woods, which astonished them anew to such +a degree that, seeing their chiefs dead, they +lost courage, and took to flight, abandoning +their camp and fort, and fleeing into the +woods, whither I pursued them, killing still +more of them. Our savages also killed +several, and took ten or twelve prisoners. +The remainder escaped with the wounded.</p> +<p class="pnext">"After gaining the victory, our men +amused themselves by taking a great +quantity of Indian corn and some meal from +their enemies, also their armour, which they +had left behind that they might run better. +After feasting sumptuously, dancing and +singing, we returned three hours after, +with the prisoners."</p> +<p class="pnext">On the return journey, the Algonquins +tied one of the prisoners to a stake, and +tortured him with such refinement of cruelty +as to arouse the disgust and resentment of +Champlain. Finally, they allowed him to +put the wretched Iroquois out of his misery +with a musket-ball. Arrived at the rapids, +the Algonquins and Hurons returned to +their own country, with loud protestations +of friendship for Champlain, while the latter +continued his journey down to Quebec.</p> +<p class="pnext">If anything remained to heap the cup of +Iroquois resentment to the brim, it was +provided the following year, when Champlain +again lent his assistance to the Algonquins +and Hurons, and, encountering a war-party +of Iroquois, a hundred strong, near +the mouth of the Richelieu, killed or +captured every one of them. The day was to +come when the tables would be turned with +a vengeance, when the war-cry of the +Iroquois would be heard under the walls +of Montreal and Quebec, and the death of +each of the hundred warriors avenged a +hundredfold.</p> +<p class="pnext">But the sanguinary story of the Richelieu +is not limited to Indian wars, or the conflict +between Indian and French. In later years +it was to become the road of war between +white and white, between New England and +New France, and again between the revolted +colonists of New England and the loyal +colonists of Canada. On the very spot where +Champlain and his Algonquins had defeated +the Iroquois, one hundred and fifty years +later another conflict took place, curiously +similar in some respects, though different +enough in others. Again one side fought +behind a barricade, while the other gallantly +rushed to the assault, and again the defeat +was overwhelming; but there the resemblance +ends. Behind the impregnable breastwork +at Ticonderoga stood Montcalm with +his three or four thousand French; without +stood Abercrombie, with fifteen thousand +British regulars and Colonial militia. +Abercrombie's one and only idea was to carry the +position by assault, and throughout the long +day he hurled regiment after regiment up +the deadly slope, only to see them mown +down by hundreds and thousands before the +breastwork. Champlain's victory was one +of civilisation over savagery; Montcalm's +was one of skill over stupidity.</p> +<p class="pnext">Seventeen years after the battle of +Ticonderoga, the Richelieu once more became the +road of war. Down its historic waters came +Montgomery, with his three thousand +Americans, to capture Montreal and to be +driven back from the walls of Quebec. +Among all the singular circumstances that +led up to and accompanied this disastrous +attempt to relieve Canadians of the British +yoke, none was more remarkable, or more +significant, than the fact that the bulk of +the plucky little army with which Guy +Carleton successfully defended England's +northern colony consisted of +French-Canadians--the same down-trodden +French-Canadians on whose behalf Congress had +sent an army to drive the British into the +sea. As for the Richelieu, having served for +the better part of two centuries as the +pathway of savage and civilised war, its +energies were at length turned into channels +of peaceful commerce.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst" id="the-river-of-the-cataract">V</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst">THE RIVER OF THE CATARACT</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<!-- --> +<blockquote> +<div> +<div class="line-block outermost"> +<div class="line">That dread abyss! What mortal tongue may tell</div> +<div class="line">The seething horrors of its watery hell!</div> +<div class="line">Where, pent in craggy walls that gird the deep,</div> +<div class="line">Imprisoned tempests howl, and madly sweep</div> +<div class="line">The tortured floods, drifting from side to side</div> +<div class="line">In furious vortices.</div> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="line">KIRBY.</div> +<div class="line"> </div> +</div> +</div> +</div> +</blockquote> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">Father Louis Hennepin, in his +<em class="italics">New Discovery of a Vast Country in +America</em>, gives the earliest known description +of the river and falls of Niagara. "Betwixt +the Lake Ontario and Erie," he says, "there +is a vast and prodigious Cadence of Water +which falls down after a surprising and +astonishing manner, insomuch that the Universe +does not afford its Parallel. 'Tis true, +Italy and Suedeland boast of some such +Things; but we may as well say they are +but sorry Patterns, when compar'd to this +of which we now speak. At the foot of this +horrible Precipice, we meet with the River +Niagara, which is not above half a quarter +of a League broad, but is wonderfully deep +in some places. It is so rapid above this +Descent that it violently hurries down the +wild Beasts while endeavouring to pass it to +feed on the other side, they not being able +to withstand the force of its Current, which +inevitably casts them down headlong above +Six hundred foot. This wonderful Downfall +is compounded of two great Cross-streams +of Water, and two Falls, with an Isle sloping +along the middle of it. The Waters which +Fall from this vast height, do foam and boil +after the most hideous manner imaginable, +making an outrageous Noise, more terrible +than that of Thunder; for when the Wind +blows from off the South, their dismal roaring +may be heard above fifteen Leagues off. The +River Niagara having thrown itself down +this incredible Precipice, continues its +impetuous course for two Leagues together, to +the great Rock, with an inexpressible Rapidity: +But having passed that, its Impetuosity +relents, gliding along more gently for two +Leagues, till it arrives at the Lake Ontario, +or Frontenac."</p> +<p class="pnext">This same year, 1678, when Hennepin +visited the great falls, La Salle, with his +lieutenants Tonty and La Motte, were busy +with preparations for their western explorations, +and in these the Niagara River was +to play an important part. It was about +the middle of November when La Motte, +with Father Hennepin and sixteen men, +sailed from Fort Frontenac (Kingston) in a +little vessel of ten tons. "The winds and +the cold of the autumn," says Hennepin, +"were then very violent, insomuch that our +crew was afraid to go into so little a vessel. +This oblig'd us to keep our course on the +north side of the lake, to shelter ourselves +under the coast against the north-west +wind." On the twenty-sixth they were in +great danger, a couple of leagues off shore, +where they were obliged to lie at anchor all +night. The wind coming round to the north-east, +however, they managed to continue their +voyage, and arrived safely at an Iroquois +village called Tajajagon, where Toronto +stands to-day. They ran their little ship +into the mouth of the Humber, where the +Iroquois came to barter Indian corn, and +gaze in open-mouthed wonder at the +marvellous inventions of the white men. +Contrary winds and trouble with the ice kept +them there until the fifth of December, when +they crossed the lake to the mouth of the +Niagara. "On the 6th, being St. Nicholas's +Day," says Hennepin, "we got into the fine +River Niagara, into which never any such +Ship as ours enter'd before. We sung there +Te Deum, and other prayers, to return our +thanks to Almighty God for our prosperous +voyage." After examining the river as far +as Chippewa Creek, La Motte, Hennepin +and the men set to work to build a cabin, +surrounded by palisades, two leagues above +the mouth of the river. The ground was +frozen, and hot water had to be used to +thaw it out before the stakes could be driven +in. The Iroquois, who according to +Hennepin had been very friendly on their arrival +at the mouth of the river, presenting them +with fish, imputing their good fortune in +the fisheries to the white men, and examining +with interest and astonishment the "great +wooden canoe," grew sullen and suspicious +when they saw the strangers building a +fortified house on what they considered +peculiarly their own territory. La Motte +and Hennepin went off to the great village +of the Senecas, beyond the Genesee, to +obtain their consent to the building of the +fort, but without much success. Soon after +their departure, La Salle and Tonty reached +the Seneca village, on their way from Fort +Frontenac to the Niagara. More persuasive, +or more fortunate than his lieutenant, La +Salle secured permission not only for the +fortified post at the mouth of the river, but +also for a much more important undertaking +which he had planned, the building of a +vessel at the upper end of the Niagara River, +to be used in connection with his western +explorations.</p> +<p class="pnext">During the winter the necessary material +for the <em class="italics">Griffin</em>, as the new vessel was to be +called, was carried over the long portage to +the mouth of Cayuga Creek, above the falls, +where a dock was prepared and the keel laid. +La Salle sent the master-carpenter to Hennepin +to desire him to drive the first bolt, but, +as he says, his profession obliged him to +decline the honour. La Salle returned to +Fort Frontenac, leaving Tonty to finish the +work. The Iroquois, in spite of their +agreement with La Salle, watched the +building of the <em class="italics">Griffin</em> with jealous +dissatisfaction, and kept the little band of +Frenchmen in a state of constant anxiety. +Fortunately, one of their expeditions against the +neighbouring tribes took the majority of +them off, and the work was pushed forward +with redoubled zeal, so that it might be +completed before their return. The Indians +that remained behind were too few to make +an open attack, but they did their utmost +to prevent the completion of the ship. One +of them, feigning drunkenness, attacked the +blacksmith and tried to kill him, but was +driven off with a red-hot bar. Hennepin +naïvely remarks that this, "together with +the reprimand he received from me," obliged +him to be gone. A native woman warned +Tonty that an attempt would be made to +burn the vessel. Failing in this, the Senecas +tried to starve the French by refusing to +sell them corn, and might have succeeded +but for the efforts of two Mohegan hunters, +who kept the workmen supplied with game +from the surrounding forest. Finally, the +<em class="italics">Griffin</em> was launched, amid the shouts of the +French and the yelpings of the Indians, who +forgot their displeasure in the novel +spectacle. She was towed up the Niagara, and +on the seventh of August, 1679, La Salle and +his men sailed out over the placid waters of +Lake Erie, the booming of his cannon +announcing the approach of the first ship of +the upper lakes. In the <em class="italics">Griffin</em> La Salle sailed +through Lakes Eric, St. Clair, and Huron, to +Michilimackinac, and thence crossed Lake +Michigan to the entrance to Green Bay, +where some of his men, sent on ahead, had +collected a quantity of valuable furs. These +he determined to send back to Canada, to +satisfy the clamorous demands of his creditors, +while he continued his voyage to the +Mississippi. The <em class="italics">Griffin</em> set sail for Niagara +on the eighteenth of September. She never +reached her destination, and her fate has +remained one of the mysteries of Canadian +history.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst" id="the-highway-of-the-fur-trade">VI</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst">THE HIGHWAY OF THE FUR TRADE</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<!-- --> +<blockquote> +<div> +<div class="line-block outermost"> +<div class="line">Dear dark-brown waters, full of all the stain</div> +<div class="line">Of sombre spruce-woods and the forest fens,</div> +<div class="line">Laden with sound from far-off northern glens</div> +<div class="line">Where winds and craggy cataracts complain,</div> +<div class="line">Voices of streams and mountain pines astrain,</div> +<div class="line">The pines that brood above the roaring foam</div> +<div class="line">Of La Montague or Des Erables; thine home</div> +<div class="line">Is distant yet, a shelter far to gain.</div> +<div class="line">Aye, still to eastward, past the shadowy lake</div> +<div class="line">And the long slopes of Rigaud toward the sun.</div> +<div class="line">The mightier stream, thy comrade, waits for thee,</div> +<div class="line">The beryl waters that espouse and take</div> +<div class="line">Thine in their deep embrace, and bear thee on</div> +<div class="line">In that great bridal journey to the sea.</div> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="line">LAMPMAN.</div> +<div class="line"> </div> +</div> +</div> +</div> +</blockquote> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">While Champlain was in Paris, in +1612, a young man, one Nicolas de +Vignau, whom he had sent the previous year +to visit the tribes of the Ottawa, reappeared, +with a marvellous tale of what he had seen +on his travels. He had found a great lake, +he said, and out of it a river flowing north, +which he had descended and reached the +shores of the sea, where he had seen the +wreck of an English ship. Seventeen days' +travel by canoe, said Vignau, would bring +one to the shores of his sea. Champlain +was delighted, and prepared immediately to +follow up this important discovery. He +returned to Canada, and about the end of +May 1613 set out from Montreal with +Vignau and three companions. The rest of +the story is better told in Parkman's +words--and Parkman is here at his very best.</p> +<p class="pnext">"All day they plied their paddles, and +when the night came they made their +campfire in the forest. Day dawned. The east +glowed with tranquil fire, that pierced, with +eyes of flame, the fir-trees whose jagged tops +stood drawn in black against the burning +heaven. Beneath the glossy river slept in +shadow, or spread far and wide in sheets of +burnished bronze; and the white moon, +paling in the face of day, hung like a disk of +silver in the western sky. Now a fervid +light touched the dead top of the hemlock, +and, creeping downward, bathed the mossy +beard of the patriarchal cedar, unstirred in +the breathless air. Now, a fiercer spark +beamed from the east; and now, half risen +on the sight, a dome of crimson fire, the sun +blazed with floods of radiance across the +awakened wilderness.</p> +<p class="pnext">"The canoes were launched again, and +the voyagers held their course. Soon the +still surface was flecked with spots of foam; +islets of froth floated by, tokens of some great +convulsion. Then, on their left, the falling +curtain of the Rideau shone like silver +betwixt its bordering woods, and in front, +white as a snow-drift, the cataracts of the +Chaudière barred their way. They saw the +unbridled river careering down its sheeted +rocks, foaming in unfathomed chasms, +wearying the solitude with the hoarse outcry +of its agony and rage."</p> +<p class="pnext">While the Indians threw an offering into +the foam as an offering to the Manitou of +the cataract, Champlain and his men +shouldered their canoes and climbed over the +long portage to the quiet waters of the Lake +of the Chaudière, now Lake Des Chênes. +Past the Falls of the Chats and a long +succession of rapids they made their way, +until at last, discouraged by the difficulties +of the river, they took to the woods, +and made their way through them, tormented +by mosquitoes, to the village of +Tessouat, one of the principal chiefs of the +Algonquins, who welcomed Champlain to +his country.</p> +<p class="pnext">Feasting, the smoking of ceremonial pipes, +and a great deal of speech-making followed. +Champlain asked for men and canoes to +conduct him to the country of the Nipissings, +through whom he hoped to reach the North +Sea. Tessouat and his elders looked +dubious. They had no love for the Nipissings, +and preferred to keep Champlain among +themselves. Finally, at his urgent solicitation, +they agreed, but as soon as he had +left the lodge they changed their minds. +Champlain returned and upbraided them as +children who could not hold fast to their +word. They replied that they feared that +he would be lost in the wild north country, +and among the treacherous Nipissings.</p> +<p class="pnext">"But," replied Champlain, "this young +man, Vignau, has been to their country, +and did not find the road or the people so +bad as you have said."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Nicholas," demanded Tessouat, "did +you say that you had been to the Nipissings?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"Yes," he replied, "I have been there,"</p> +<p class="pnext">"You are a liar," returned the unceremonious +host; "you know very well that +you slept here among my children every +night, and got up again every morning; and +if you ever went to the Nipissings, it must +have been when you were asleep. How can +you be so impudent as to lie to your chief, +and so wicked as to risk his life among so +many dangers? He ought to kill you with +tortures worse than those with which we +kill our enemies."</p> +<p class="pnext">Vignau held out stoutly for a time, but +finally broke down and confessed his +treachery. This "most impudent liar," as +Champlain calls him, seems to have had no +more substantial motive for his outrageous +fabrication than vanity and the love of +notoriety. Champlain spurned him from his +presence, and in bitter disappointment +retraced his steps to Montreal.</p> +<p class="pnext">From the days of Champlain to the close +of the period of French rule, and for many +years thereafter, the Ottawa was known as +the main thoroughfare from Montreal to +the great west. Up these waters generation +after generation of fur-traders made their +way, their canoes laden with goods, to be +exchanged at remote posts on the Assiniboine, +the Saskatchewan, or the Athabasca, +for skins brought in by all the surrounding +tribes. Long before the first settler came +to clear the forest and make a home for +himself in the wilderness, these banks echoed +to the shouts of French <em class="italics">voyageurs</em> and +Indian canoe-men, and the gay songs of +Old Canada. Many a weary hour of paddling +under a hot midsummer sun, and many a +long and toilsome portage, were lightened +by the rollicking chorus of "En roulant ma +boule," or the tender refrain of "A la claire +fontaine." These inimitable folk-songs +became in time a link between the old days of +the fur-trade and the later period of the +lumber traffic. It is indeed not so many +years ago that one might sit on the banks +of the Ottawa, in the long summer evenings, +and, as the mighty rafts of logs floated +past, catch the familiar refrain, softened +by distance:</p> +<blockquote> +<div> +<div class="line-block outermost"> +<div class="line">Rouli, roulant, ma boule roulant,</div> +<div class="line">En roulant ma boule roulant,</div> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="line">En roulant ma boule.</div> +</div> +</div> +</div> +</blockquote> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst" id="the-red-river-of-the-north">VII</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst">THE RED RIVER OF THE NORTH</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<!-- --> +<blockquote> +<div> +<div class="line-block outermost"> +<div class="line">But, in the ancient woods the Indian old,</div> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="line">Unequal to the chase,</div> +</div> +<div class="line">Sighs as he thinks of all the paths untold,</div> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="line">No longer trodden by his fleeting race,</div> +</div> +<div class="line">And, westward, on far-stretching prairies damp,</div> +<div class="line">The savage shout, and mighty bison tramp</div> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="line">Roll thunder with the lifting mists of morn.</div> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="line">MAIR.</div> +<div class="line"> </div> +</div> +</div> +</div> +</div> +</blockquote> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">In September 1738 a party of French +explorers left Fort Maurepas, near the +mouth of the Winnipeg River, and, skirting +the lower end of Lake Winnipeg in their +canoes, reached the delta of the Red River +of the North. Threading its labyrinthine +channels, they finally emerged on the main +stream. The commander of this little band +of pathfinders--first of white men to see the +waters of the Red River--was Pierre Gaultier +de la Vérendrye, one of the most dauntless +and unselfish characters in the whole history +of exploration. Paddling up the river, La +Vérendrye and his men finally came to the +mouth of the Assiniboine, or the Forks of +the Asiliboiles, as La Vérendrye calls it, +where he met a party of Crees with two +war-chiefs. The chiefs tried to dissuade him +from continuing his journey toward the +west, using the usual native arguments as +to the dangers of the way, and the treachery +of other tribes; but La Vérendrye had +heard such arguments before, and was not +to be turned from his purpose by dangers, +real or assumed. He had set his heart on +the discovery of the Western Sea, and as a +means to that end was now on his way to +visit a strange tribe of Indians whose country +lay toward the south-west--the Mandans of +the Missouri. Leaving one of his officers +behind to build a fort at the mouth of the +Assiniboine, about where the city of Winnipeg +stands to-day, he continued his journey +to the west. Somewhere near the present +town of Portage la Prairie, he and his men +built another small post, afterwards known +as Fort La Reine. From this outpost he +set out in October, with a selected party of +twenty men, for an overland journey to the +Mandan villages on the Missouri. Visiting +a village of Assiniboines on the way, La +Vérendrye arrived on the banks of the +Missouri on the third of December. Knowing +the value of an imposing appearance, he +made his approach to the Mandan village +as spectacular as possible. His men marched +in military array, with the French flag borne +in front, and as the Mandans crowded out +to meet him, the explorer brought his little +company to a stand, and had them fire a +salute of three volleys, with all the available +muskets, to the unbounded astonishment +and no small terror of the Mandans, to +whom both the white men and their weapons +were entirely unknown. After spending +some time with the Mandans, La Vérendrye +returned to Fort La Reine, leaving two of +his men behind to learn the language, and +pick up all the information obtainable as to +the unknown country that lay beyond, and +the prospects of reaching the Western Sea +by way of the Missouri. The story of La +Vérendrye's later explorations, and his efforts +to realise his life-long ambition to reach the +shores of the Western Sea, is full of interest, +but lies outside the present subject.</p> +<p class="pnext">Returning to the Red River of the North, +and spanning the interval in time to the +close of the eighteenth century, we find +another party of white men making their +way up its muddy waters. This "brigade" +of fur-traders, as it was called, was in charge +of a famous Nor'-Wester known as Alexander +Henry, whose voluminous journals were +resurrected from the archives of the Library +of Parliament at Ottawa some years ago. +Henry gives us an admirably full picture of +the Red River country and its human and +other inhabitants, as they were in his day. +One can see the long string of heavily laden +canoes as they forced their way slowly up +the current of the Red River, paddles dipping +rhythmically to the light-hearted chorus of +some old Canadian <em class="italics">chanson</em>. At night the +camp is pitched on some comparatively high +ground, fires are lighted, kettles hung, and +the evening meal despatched. Then the +men gather about the camp-fires, fill their +pipes, and an hour is spent in song and story. +They turn in early, however, for the day's +paddling has been long and heavy, and they +must be off again before daylight on the +morrow. So the story runs from day to day.</p> +<p class="pnext">They reach the mouth of the Assiniboine, +and Henry notes the ruins of La Vérendrye's +old Fort Rouge. Old residents of Winnipeg +will appreciate his feeling references to the +clinging character of the soil about the +mouth of the Assiniboine: "The last rain +had turned it into a kind of mortar that +adheres to the foot like tar, so that at every +step we raise several pounds of it."</p> +<p class="pnext">These were the days when the buffalo +roamed in vast herds throughout the great +western plains. One gets from Henry's +narrative some idea of their almost +inconceivable numbers. As he ascended the Red +River, the country seemed alive with them. +The "beach, once a soft black mud into +which a man would sink knee-deep, is now +made hard as pavement by the numerous +herds coming to drink. The willows are +entirely trampled and torn to pieces; even +the bark of the smaller trees is rubbed off in +places. The grass on the first bank of the +river is entirely worn away." As the brigade +nears the point where the international +boundary crosses the Red River, an immense +herd is seen, "commencing about half a mile +from the camp, whence the plain was covered +on the west side of the river as far as the +eye could reach. They were moving southward +slowly, and the meadow seemed as if +in motion."</p> +<p class="pnext">One further glimpse from Henry's Journal +will serve to give some idea of life on the +banks of the Red River at the beginning of +the last century. Henry is describing the +"bustle and noise which attended the +transportation of <em class="italics">five</em> pieces of trading goods" +from his own fort to one of the branch +establishments.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Antoine Payet, guide and second in +command, leads the van, with a cart drawn +by two horses and loaded with his private +baggage, cassettes, bags, kettles, etc. +Madame Payet follows the cart with a child +a year old on her back, very merry. Charles +Bottineau, with two horses and a cart loaded +with one and a half packs, his own baggage, +and two young children, with kettles and +other trash hanging on to it. Madame +Bottineau, with a squalling infant on her +back, scolding and tossing it about. Joseph +Dubord goes on foot, with his long pipe-stem +and calumet in his hand; Madame Dubord +follows on foot, carrying his tobacco-pouch +with a broad bead-tail. Antoine La Pointe, +with another cart and horses, loaded with +two pieces of goods and with baggage +belonging to Brisebois, Jasmin and Pouliot, +and a kettle hung on each side. Auguste +Brisebois follows with only his gun on his +shoulder and a fresh-lighted pipe in his +mouth. Michel Jasmin goes next, like +Brisebois, with gun and pipe, puffing out +clouds of smoke. Nicolas Pouliot, the +greatest smoker in the North-West, has +nothing but pipe and pouch. These three +fellows, having taken a farewell dram and +lighted fresh pipes, go on brisk and merry, +playing numerous pranks. Domin Livernois, +with a young mare, the property of +Mr. Langlois, loaded with weeds for smoking, +an old worsted bag (madame's property), +some squashes and potatoes, a small keg of +fresh water, and two young whelps howling. +Next goes Livernois' young horse, drawing +a <em class="italics">travaille</em> loaded with his baggage and a +large worsted <em class="italics">mashguemcate</em> belonging to +Madame Langlois. Next appears Madame +Cameron's mare, kicking, rearing, and snorting, +hauling a <em class="italics">travaille</em> loaded with a bag of +flour, cabbages, turnips, onions, a small keg +of water, and a large kettle of broth. Michel +Langlois, who is master of the band, now +comes on leading a horse that draws a +<em class="italics">travaille</em> nicely covered with a new-painted +tent, under which his daughter and +Mrs. Cameron lie at full length, very sick; this +covering or canopy has a pretty effect in +the caravan, and appears at a great distance +in the plains. Madame Langlois brings up +the rear of the human beings, following the +<em class="italics">travaille</em> with a slow step and melancholy air, +attending to the wants of her daughter, +who, notwithstanding her sickness, can find +no other expressions of gratitude to her +parents than by calling them dogs, fools, +beasts, etc. The rear guard consists of a +long train of twenty dogs--some for sleighs, +some for game, and others of no use whatever, +except to snarl and destroy meat. +The total forms a procession nearly a +mile long, and appears like a large band +of Assiniboines."</p> +<p class="pnext">To the uninitiated, it may be explained +that a <em class="italics">cassette</em> is a box for carrying small +articles; calumet is, of course, the Indian +pipe; a <em class="italics">travaille</em> is a primitive species of +conveyance, consisting of a couple of long +poles, one end fastened to a horse or dog, +as the case may be, and the other trailing +on the ground. Cross-bars lashed midway +hold the poles together, and serve as a +foundation for whatever load, human or +otherwise, it is intended to carry. +<em class="italics">Mashguemcate</em> is a species of bag, a general +receptacle for odds and ends.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst" id="the-mighty-mackenzie">VIII</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="center large pfirst">THE MIGHTY MACKENZIE</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<!-- --> +<blockquote> +<div> +<div class="line-block outermost"> +<div class="line">I love thee, O thou great, wild, rugged land</div> +<div class="line">Of fenceless field and snowy mountain height,</div> +<div class="line">Uprearing crests all starry-diademed</div> +<div class="line">Above the silver clouds.</div> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="line">LAUT.</div> +<div class="line"> </div> +</div> +</div> +</div> +</blockquote> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">There was a man in the western +fur-trade who felt that other things were +better worth while than the bartering of +blankets and beads for beaver-skins. His +heart responded to the compelling cry of +the unknown, and one bright June day, in +the year 1789, he set forth in quest of other +worlds. The man was Alexander Mackenzie, +and the worlds he sought to conquer were +those of the far north. There was said to +be a mighty river whose waters no white +man had ever yet seen, whose source and +outlet could only be guessed at, from the +vague reports of Indians, whose banks were +said to be infested with bloodthirsty tribes, +and whose course was broken by so many and +dangerous cataracts that no traveller might +hope to navigate its waters and live.</p> +<p class="pnext">Mackenzie, chafing at the dreary monotony +of the fur-trader's life, listened eagerly +to all such tales. He knew enough of Indian +character to make due allowances for +exaggerations; but had all that he heard been +true, the prospect of danger would only +have whetted his appetite for exploration. +From his post, Fort Chipewyan, on Lake +Athabasca, the way lay clear, and he launched +his canoe, manned by four Canadian +<em class="italics">voyageurs</em>, while his Indian interpreters and +hunters followed in a second. To Great +Slave Lake they were on familiar waters, +but beyond all was conjecture.</p> +<p class="pnext">To appreciate the magnitude of Mackenzie's +undertaking, one must bear in mind +that his object was to trace the mighty river +that afterward bore his name to its mouth. +He had no certain knowledge where it might +empty--perhaps into the Arctic, possibly +into the Pacific. In any case it involved a +long journey, with all sorts of possible +difficulties, human and natural; and as he must +travel light, with only a limited supply of +provisions, it was essential that he should +go and return in one season--the very short +season of these far northern latitudes. The +natives whom he questioned ridiculed the +idea of descending the Mackenzie to its +outlet and returning the same season. They +assured him that it would take him the entire +season to go down; that winter would +overtake him before he could begin the +return journey; and that he would certainly +perish of cold or starvation, even if he +escaped the hostile tribes of the lower waters +of the river.</p> +<p class="pnext">Mackenzie was confident that the journey +could be made in the season, but to succeed +they must travel at top speed. He had +picked men with him, and it was fortunate +that he had, for the pace was almost killing. +Half-past three in the morning generally +saw them in the canoes and off for a long +day's hard paddling. One day they paddled +steadily from half-past two in the morning +until six in the evening, except short stops +for meals, covering seventy-two miles in +spite of a head wind.</p> +<p class="pnext">When they reached Great Slave Lake, +they found it almost entirely covered with +ice, though it was now the ninth of June. +Coming down Slave River they had been +tortured with mosquitoes and gnats, and the +trees along the banks were in full leaf. This +violent change was characteristic of the +north. Five precious days were lost waiting +for the ice to move, so that they might cross +the lake. At last a westerly wind opened a +passage, and after some perilous adventures +they made the northern shore. Coasting +slowly to the westward, about the end of +the month they rounded the point of a long +island, and Mackenzie found himself on the +great river. The current increased as they +travelled down stream, and it was possible +to make good progress.</p> +<p class="pnext">On they went, day after day. July 1st +they passed the mouth of what the Indians +called the River of the Mountain, afterward +known as the Liard, where Fort Simpson +was built many years later. As they +proceeded, it became clear to Mackenzie that +the river down which he was paddling must +empty into the Arctic--but would it be +possible to reach the ocean and return to +Fort Chipewyan that season? The men +were beginning to get discouraged, and it +required all Mackenzie's enthusiasm and +strength of purpose to keep them to the +strenuous task. The tribes they met as they +went north--Slaves and Dog-ribs and Hare +Indians--did not prove as ferocious as they +had been represented, but they one and all +described the dangers of the river below +as stupendous. The <em class="italics">voyageurs</em> grumbled, +but did not openly rebel. As for the +Indians of Mackenzie's party, they were in +open terror; expected at every turn of the +river to come upon some of the fearful +monsters of which the Slaves or Dog-ribs +had warned them, and were only kept from +deserting by Mackenzie's overmastering will. +As they approached the mouth of the river, +another terror was added--fear of meeting +the Eskimos, for Indian and Eskimo were at +deadly enmity. Altogether, the plucky +explorer had troubles enough.</p> +<p class="pnext">On the second of July he came within +sight of the Rocky Mountains, whose +glistening summits the Indians called <em class="italics">Manetoe +aseniah</em>, or spirit-stones, and the following +day he camped at the foot of a remarkable +hill, constantly referred to in the narratives +of Sir John Franklin, Richardson, and other +later explorers, as the "Rock by the River +Side." There is an admirable drawing of +the rock, by Kendall, in the narrative of +Franklin's second voyage.</p> +<p class="pnext">A few days later Mackenzie passed the +mouth of Bear River, draining that huge +reservoir, Great Bear Lake, whose discovery +remained for later explorers to accomplish, +and about one hundred and twenty-five +miles below he came to the Sans Sault +Rapids--the fearful waterfall against which +the natives had warned him. As a matter +of fact it can be safely navigated at almost +any season of the year.</p> +<p class="pnext">Another thirty miles brought the explorer +to the afterward famous Ramparts of the +Mackenzie. Here the banks suddenly +contract to a width of five hundred yards, and +for several miles the travellers passed through +a gigantic tunnel, whose walls of limestone +rose majestically on either side to a height +of from one hundred and twenty-five to two +hundred and fifty feet.</p> +<p class="pnext">At last they reached the delta of the river, +and it was well that they were so near their +destination, for the Indians were thoroughly +demoralised and the <em class="italics">voyageurs</em> dispirited, +provisions were running perilously low, and +the short northern summer was rapidly +drawing to its close. On July 12th the party +emerged from the river into what seemed to +Mackenzie to be a lake, but which was really +the mouth of the river. The following day +confirmation of this came with the rising +tide, which very nearly carried off the men's +baggage while they slept. Paddling over to +an island, which he named Whale Island, to +commemorate an exciting chase after a school +of these enormous animals the previous day, +Mackenzie erected a post, on which he +engraved the latitude of the spot, his own +name, the number of persons he had with +him in the expedition, and the time spent +on the island.</p> +<p class="pnext">After a fruitless attempt to get in touch +with the Eskimo, Mackenzie turned his face +to the south, and, after a comparatively +uneventful journey, arrived at Fort +Chipewyan on September 12th, after a voyage +of one hundred and two days. He had +explored one of the greatest rivers of +America, from Great Slave Lake to the +Arctic, and he had added to the known +world a territory greater than Europe. +Nor was this all, for Mackenzie's journey +to the Arctic was but the introduction to +his even more difficult, and more momentous, +expedition of three years later, over the +mountains to the shores of the Pacific. +This, however, does not lie within the +compass of the present sketch.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<p class="center pfirst small white-space-pre-line">BOYLE, SON AND WATCHURST<br /> +PRINTERS,<br /> +3-5 WARWICK SQUARE, E.C.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 6em"> +</div> +<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- --> +<div class="backmatter"> +</div> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 38933 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |